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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27598943">Exceptions</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LobsterLobster/pseuds/LobsterLobster'>LobsterLobster</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 04:27:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,623</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27598943</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LobsterLobster/pseuds/LobsterLobster</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Most Mandalorians will rarely admit it, but sometimes there are exceptions to the strict rules of their Creed. Tag to S1E8 Redemption. What happens when Baby Yoda sees Din without his helmet?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>224</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After placing one last stone on the Ugnaught’s makeshift grave, the Mandalorian took the child onto the Razorcrest and took off. Nevarro shrunk behind them and the open sky spread out before them. Somewhere out there were the child’s people. He should make a plan, but the day’s fighting was catching up with him. He programmed the navicomputer to take them to a nearby system, with a destination far out from the only habitable world, and jumped to hyperspace.</p><p>The stars blurred into lines outside the cockpit. He let his head lean back to rest against the seat. The ship was quiet. The bacta spray that IG-11 had applied to his head injury must have contained some pain killers. It was definitely wearing off. Everything ached. He knew from experience that if he let his body have its way and fell asleep in his seat, everything would be much worse when he woke up.</p><p>He forced himself to get up. The child was sound asleep in his carrier, secure in one of the passenger seats. Usually he slid down the steps to the lower deck, but this time he took each one, moving slowly.</p><p>He found a spare medkit, making a mental note to buy a new one the next chance he got, sat down on the bench and placed the medkit on the storage container that he used for a table. He removed his helmet and set it beside the medkit.</p><p>For a moment, it felt like nothing had changed. This was his normal routine after a job. Check his armor for damage, check his body for injuries. He pulled off his gloves and slowly ran his hands over his face, noting what hurt. How many times had he done this? Too many to count. He carefully applied a bacta patch over the half-mended gash on the back of his head and wiped dried blood from his face.</p><p>With a groan, he stretched out on the bench, careful to lay his head to the side so the bacta patch could set. The day’s events played out in his memory, another part of his routine. But instead of hiking across some desolate wasteland and slapping binders on a quarry, or outright shooting them, it was the rush of flying with a jetpack for the first time. Watching IG-11 step out into the lava flow. The shootout in the ruined tavern.</p><p>The feeling of his helmet being lifted off his head. As IG-11 had said, the droid technically wasn’t a living being, so it didn’t violate his code. But he was still unsettled by the experience. Then IG-11 sacrificed itself to save the child, himself, Cara Dune, and Greef Karga. Was that the action of an unthinking machine? Perhaps it was all a moot point. It’s not like there was anyone left of his Covert to question him anyway.</p><p>The pile of empty helmets and plates of armor, dried blood mixing with dirt in the dark alley of the underground sewer. No. Surely some had escaped the Imperials and made it offworld. And the Armorer, surely she had survived, staying behind and rebuilding what she could. He hadn’t lost them all, not for good.</p><p>He wasn’t a little lost foundling, terrified without his parents. He was a Mandalorian. He would find his people again. And they would help him find…</p><p>He was startled out of his thoughts by a soft touch on his cheek. His eyes flew open and he saw the child standing in front of him, huge eyes blinking up at him. He sat up abruptly. In a rush of panic, he looked at his helmet, still sitting on the table, then back at the child. The child made a cooing sound, tilting his head to the side a little, staring at him curiously.</p><p>Careless! After everything he’d been through, how could he slip like this? Now he could never…</p><p>Another memory came to him, an old one this time. When he’d been a foundling himself, before he’d taken the Trials, he’d been on a training mission with his mentor, the Mandalorian who had found him. They were deep in the snowy mountains on some remote world. After a grueling day of trekking and an encounter with a pack of hungry canines, they had finally set up a tent.</p><p>“Come here, child,” his mentor called.</p><p>He gulped down the last two bites of his rations and put on his helmet before crawling into the tent. The Mandalorian was laid out on his bedroll, his helmet on the ground beside an open medkit. Din froze. He immediately looked away, heart racing. But the man only sighed.</p><p>“I know the rules as well as you do, child. The Armorer and the others, they always make it sound like there can be no exceptions. But there are, sometimes. You’re a foundling in my care. It’s alright. Now come here.”</p><p>He hesitated. He couldn’t help feeling like he was doing something wrong, but if his mentor said it was alright, then it was alright. He turned his head and looked straight at him. There was another moment of surprise. The man looked much older than Din had thought he was. He had gray hair, lines around his blue eyes, and old scar cutting through one eyebrow, a scruffy beard. And his nose was badly swollen and bloody.</p><p>For a moment, it felt like he was looking at a stranger, not the man who had cared for him and taught him for close to three years. After a moment, Din realized why he felt so surprised. Somehow, in the back of his mind, he’d always imagined the man under the helmet with dark hair, brown eyes, a warm smile. Like his father had.</p><p>“My nose is broken. I need you to set it. I’ll tell you what to do. You need to learn this because one day you might have to do it for yourself,” his mentor was saying.</p><p>Din put aside his thoughts and got to work. Later, when he was back at the Covert and the other foundlings were boasting about their adventures, he kept quiet. He never mentioned the experience to anyone.</p><p>Now he was alone on the Razorcrast and the child was staring at him, tapping a little claw against his leg. Din sighed. He leaned forward. He was going to pick up his helmet and put it back on but before he could think about what he was doing, he reached down and picked the child up and set him on his lap.</p><p>“It’s alright,” he said, and his own voice sounded strange in his ears. He couldn’t remember the last time he had spoken aloud without his helmet on. “You’re a foundling in my care. So it’s alright.”</p><p>The child twitched his ears and made a soft noise. He seemed to be smiling.</p><p>“Come on, let’s get some rest,” he said, standing up and carrying the child to his bunk and setting him into the makeshift hammock. “Tomorrow we’ll start looking for your people.”</p><p>The End!</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>I wasn’t planning on continuing this one, but here we are! Tag to S2E7 (Chapter 15: The Believer). Din deals with the aftermath of breaking his creed.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Din had transmitted his messages, one to Moff Gideon and another to Bo-Katan Kryze and now Slave I was safe in hypserspace. They had about a day and a half of travel time before they would be close enough to put his plan into action. Boba Fett was alone in the cockpit making final adjustments to their course. According to Fennec, he was very particular about having guests on his ship, so everyone else was seated on the lower deck.</p>
<p>Fennec had her rifle balanced on her lap and was cleaning and inspecting it meticulously, moving with an efficiency born of long practice, while she listened to Cara’s animated retelling of the Battle of Endor. The two seemed to have formed a somewhat unlikely friendship, though Din doubted that either would ever admit as much.</p>
<p>Din stretched out his shoulder, wincing a little as he moved it. He’d taken a beating while fighting off the pirates earlier and he was feeling it now. The stormtrooper armor had protected him from any serious injury but he was sore and aching all over, much worse than when he fought in his own armor. He needed to get as much rest as he could if he wanted to be ready for the next fight.</p>
<p>He leaned his head back against the seat and closed his eyes, only to feel his stomach rumbling. He ignored it and for a few minutes succeeded. Din was used to ignoring hunger and discomfort, especially if there was nowhere private where he could remove his helmet. Sometimes he went days without eating. That wasn’t an option this time. He would need all his strength for what was coming next.</p>
<p>He rummaged around in the storage bins near his seat until he found a high protein ration bar. Fennec was laughing at Cara’s description of stalking a hapless squad of stormtroopers. Din removed his helmet and set it on his knee. He tore open the ration bar and took a bite. It was dry and chewy, but he could tell it one of the good quality versions full of actual nutrients. He chewed slowly, his thoughts drifting. He hoped the Imperials were feeding Grogu.</p>
<p>The deck had gone quiet. Din focused on his protein bar. The markings were in an unfamiliar language, but it tasted the same as the thousand other similar bars he’d eaten over the years.</p>
<p>“What are you doing?” Cara’s alarmed voice.</p>
<p>Finally, he turned to look at her. Her shocked expression was in bright, sharp focus.</p>
<p>“Eating,” he answered, shifting his eyes away from hers and taking another bite of the protein bar.</p>
<p>“But…your helmet! What about your creed?” Cara got up and moved to the seat across from him. It was hard to look at her like this. Her face reminded him of everything they’d been through together. Fighting the AT-AT in the backwoods. Telling her to leave him to die rather than remove his helmet back on Navarro.</p>
<p>He turned and glanced at Fennec. She was watching this whole exchange with interest but didn’t say anything.</p>
<p>“I already broke my creed,” he said, managed the words without breaking. He swallowed, washing down the last crumbs of the protein bar, then explained, “On Morak. I had to access the console. Mayfield couldn’t do it because this officer would have recognized him. He didn’t though. The officer. Later he talked to us, told us about how the empire would bring order to the galaxy, didn’t matter how many died for it…but he never did recognize Mayfield. Not even when he pulled his blaster and shot him in the chest.”</p>
<p>Din paused, took a breath. His voice really did sound different like this. “The console had to scan my face.” He said it like it was perfectly reasonable. Unavoidable.</p>
<p>“Okay, wow,” Cara nodded, processing, “You didn’t have a choice. You did what you had to…But still…I thought you said you couldn’t put it back on. If you took the helmet off in front of someone, you couldn’t ever put it back on.”</p>
<p>“I know.” Din bit the words out. He didn’t have to be reminded. He wished he was alone, on the Razor Crest, with Grogu.</p>
<p>“So, what? Do you not believe in all that anymore?” Cara asked.</p>
<p>“Cara,” Fennec’s voice was low, warning.</p>
<p>Cara ignored her, still looking directly into Din’s eyes.</p>
<p>“No! I still believe. I still follow the Way of the Mandalore,” Din said, the words so sure that he almost didn’t have to think them, then, “But the kid is part of my clan now. My mission to protect him is more important and I need my armor to rescue him. After I have Grogu back, then I’ll take it off for good.”</p>
<p>There was a moment of silence. Cara looked like she was about to say something else, but Din said firmly, “This is the way.”</p>
<p>Cara seemed to accept this, albeit reluctantly. Din looked down and almost put on his helmet again but more than half of the protein bar was still left. He raised it and took another bite, feeling relieved that the conversation was over. That feeling only lasted a few seconds.</p>
<p>“Wait, so the kid’s name is Grogu?” Cara asked. “Did you name him? Is that a Mandalorian name?”</p>
<p>“No,” Din said around a mouthful of protein bar. He swallowed and explained, “We found this Jedi and she was able to talk to him with her thoughts. She said his name was Grogu. You should see his reaction whenever I say it.” Din abruptly stopped talking. He hadn’t meant to say all that. He lowered his head again, feeling foolish for doing it but he really needed this conversation to end.</p>
<p>Cara leaned forward and put a hand on his knee. Her expression was gentle. She started to say something reassuring when a deep voice interrupted.</p>
<p>“You met a Jedi?”</p>
<p>They all turned to see Boba Fett standing by the access to the cockpit. From his relaxed stance, Din guessed he’d been there for a while, listening. Cara pulled back her hand. Din wasn’t sure if he was relieved at the interruption or more exhausted by the thought of having to talk more.</p>
<p>“Yes,” he said. The edge in Fett’s voice made him hesitant to say more.</p>
<p>Fett was quiet for a moment, his expression serious with a hint of suppressed anger. But that was how he usually looked.</p>
<p>“A Jedi killed my father,” Fett said, looking directly at Din. “The one you met was female?”</p>
<p>Din nodded affirmative.</p>
<p>“Then it wasn’t the same one. The Jedi who killed my father was a tall man with a purple lightsaber,” Fett said.</p>
<p>That was a huge relief. If it had turned out that Ahsoka had killed Fett’s father, that would have been awkward.</p>
<p>Fett stood there for a moment, seemingly lost in thought. He looked at Din’s face again and Din forced himself not to turn away. Fett’s expression was unreadable.</p>
<p>“Don’t eat all my rations now,” Fett said gruffly before leaving to check on something in the engine compartment.</p>
<p>Din finished eating, carefully ignoring the others, then put on his helmet again. He crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat, which was surprisingly comfortable. Before he fell asleep he heard Cara and Fennec return to their previous conversation.</p>
<p>……………….</p>
<p>Later, when they were close to their destination and everyone was busy checking their gear and preparing for action, Cara pulled him aside.</p>
<p>“Hey. About earlier. I didn’t mean to…question you like that. It was a big surprise, after everything. Anyway, I’m sorry,” she said.</p>
<p>“I know,” Din said, and he was surprised by how relieved she looked. Cara didn’t move away. She fiddled with her ammunition belt.</p>
<p>Din sighed. “What?”</p>
<p>“No, it’s nothing,” she said, started to turn away.</p>
<p>“Cara. If you want to say something, you might as well say it,” Din told her.</p>
<p>Cara smiled. “You have a nice face. That’s all I was going to say.”</p>
<p>Din had no idea how to react to that. Nobody had ever said anything like that to him before.</p>
<p>“I didn’t mean that in a weird way,” she rushed to reassure him, “I was just saying it as a friend. Because we are still friends, right?” There was an uncertainty in that last word that hurt Din. He wondered how upset he must have looked earlier, for her to doubt their friendship like that.</p>
<p>“Of course,” he said without hesitation.</p>
<p>Cara smiled again, and this time it was her familiar, slightly predatory smile that she wore when she was anticipating fighting Imperials. “Let’s get to work then!”</p>
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